Why it works: Mustard and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,279 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Mustard Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cucumbers
Fill a 1-gallon crock with cucumbers and cover with water and ½ cup of coarse sea salt.
Let stand overnight, then drain the cucumbers.
Make the pickles
Boil 1 quart of vinegar and 1½ cups of brown sugar until it comes to a boil.
Add the drained cucumbers and bring to a boil again.
Mix ¾ cup of flour with some vinegar before adding it to the pot along with 1½ tablespoons of mustard and 1 heaping teaspoon of turmeric powder.
Pour the mixture into pickle bottles and cork them immediately.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,279 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,281 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cucumber + turmerictop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,102 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Turmeric + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,637 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- Main vegetable that is salted, softened, and then pickled in the sweet vinegar mixture.
- Vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickling liquid.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Flour
- Thickens the pickling liquid so it coats the cucumbers.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp, pungent flavor that defines the pickle.
- Turmeric powder
- Gives the pickling sauce its bright yellow color and earthy aroma.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour with vinegar before adding it to the pot. Flour added dry clumps and stays lumpy. Mixing it into a smooth slurry with some vinegar first lets it disperse evenly, so the sauce thickens smoothly.
Swap the turmeric
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, vinegar, sugar, mustard, flour):
- Capersfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Turmericthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, vinegar, sugar, mustard, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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